Hope in Goodbye
by unbrokensaviorwithperfecthair
Summary: Emma Swan doesn't like goodbyes; she never has, never will. Maybe, though, they can bring hope for a better future -for him and for her. Emma helps Graham move on when she finds him in Underbrooke. Rated T for language.
A/N: I really wanted Emma and Graham to be able to see each other in Underbrooke, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen, so I did a thing. This isn't shipping Gremma ‒if it comes across that way, it wasn't my intention. These are just two people who used to be in a place where what they had could've turned into love, and in the end, are just two people who care about each other. I 1000000% ship Captain Swan, though I did always find Gremma cute. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy! Feedback makes my day *wink wink*.

Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time or its characters. I'm just borrowing them.

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Emma sits on a bench across the street from the sheriff's station, a newspaper hiding her face from any potential lurkers. She's always considered it to be the most boring way of doing a stakeout, but it's never failed her, so she resorts to it more often than she'd like. Her eyes expertly peek out from the top of the paper and watch as Cruella nearly drives the car into the building (briefly wonders if she'd be allowed to arrest her for reckless driving down here ‒not that the woman could actually make Underbrooke's inhabitants any _deader_ ‒) and has to swallow down the bile rising in her throat as the man who's a dead ringer for her father attacks Cruella's lips. It makes her shudder, and she averts her gaze to the random words on the newspaper; there's going to be an election for a new sheriff in the coming weeks and she can't help but wonder if her name on a headstone has anything to do with that.

James climbs into the passenger seat of Cruella's car and the pair speed off. Once she can't see the car anymore, she jogs across the street and opens the familiar doors to the station. Everything's arranged the way it should be, not a thing out of place…

Graham's jacket.

It's missing.

Emma feels her palms begin to sweat and wills her heart to stop racing.

"Graham…" she whispers, and her hand instinctively goes to her wrist. It's not there. The shoelace isn't there, either, and now she has _nothing_ to remember the man by…

She feels about five seconds away from a full blown panic attack when a familiar voice cuts through the haze and stops her train of thought.

"Emma," the Irishman says softly, reaching out for her shoulder and turning her around gently.

"I'm not dead!" She exclaims. It isn't exactly what she wants to say to him, but he looks so pained and all she wants to do is ease it. The confusion on his face lifts after a few seconds and relief takes over.

"Then… why are you down here?" He asks.

"I‒" She starts, then closes her mouth. She'll tell him, of course she will. But right now, she just wants to _be_. "It's kind of a long story," she smiles and blinks back tears before throwing her arms around his neck. He's happy to reciprocate, squeezing her back tightly. "I… wow…" she breathes, and he stands there, patiently waiting for her to organize her thoughts. "There's so much I want to say," she says, shaking her head.

"Let's start with Henry," Graham says quietly, guiding her to the chair she used to sit in when she was his deputy. "How's the boy?"

"He's great," Emma smiles. "He's getting taller every day, more mature… well, sort of. He's a real teenager now with mood swings and irrational anger to boot. I'm not quite sure what to do with him, but Regina and I will figure it out. He keeps going on and on about wanting to be a hero, and I keep trying to tell him there's so much more to life than heroism, but he grew up believing in fairytales and given his family tree ‒which is so freaking complicated and messed up by the way‒ I guess it's not surprising. I just… he's a kid, you know? He's so young, and he's putting himself under all this pressure. He should get to be a kid." Emma looks up from where she'd been staring at the floor ‒it's always easier for her to form coherent sentences when she's staring at inanimate objects‒ and meets Graham's steady gaze. She smiles sheepishly, "I was rambling, wasn't I?"

"Quite alright," Graham says with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I enjoy listening to you talk about him. Your face always lit up when you'd talk about him, even when you were having a horrible day or when Regina wouldn't let you see him. You seem happier now," he comments. Emma ducks her head and smiles.

"I am," she admits, feeling guilty that the good, honorable man sitting in front of her was stuck in the Underworld. "Well, I was. I am. I don't know. I think I am. These past two months have just been… hard." At that, she laughs, doubling over in near hysterics. "Sorry," she says, swiping at her eyes. "'Hard' is the understatement of the millennium."

"I have a hunch that that's why you here?"

"Yeah," she sighs, "yeah, that's kind of why we're here."

"We?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Henry, my parents, Regina, Robin ‒she has a boyfriend, Robin Hood‒ Zelena, who's the mother of Robin's daughter and also Regina's half sister… and Killian. You might know him as Captain Hook. He's here, too. The rest of us are on a mission to rescue him. Gold ‒oh yeah he's here too‒ fucked him over _royally_ , but I think that's an even longer story. Gold released all of the Dark One evilness, and it was going to consume everyone if no one took it on. So I did. I became the Dark One. And we were all trying to find a way to destroy it with Excalibur, but Killian got cut on the neck and he was going to die if I didn't turn him into another Dark One. And then he kind of went crazy evil and planned to kill my entire family, but he sacrificed himself to get rid of the darkness. Except Gold hijacked it and is now the Dark One again." She pauses, takes a breath, and looks up at him. "The icing on the cake is that I had to kill Killian to get rid of the darkness ‒well, that's what we thought we were doing… which is why all of us are so pissed."

"That… is a _very_ long story," Graham says, because what is he supposed to say to that? After a moment, he adds, "I take it you care about this Killian?"

Emma feels her face heat up and _damnit_ , she is not a blusher. But something about Killian reduces her to a giggling teenager droning on and on about her first boyfriend.

Oh, but he's so much more than that. She just wishes he'd see it.

"I‒ yeah. I love him." It feels weird to say, because she's never had to say the words to her family, never had to declare her love for him or explain how she feels because they always _just knew_ , even when she and Killian didn't or were too stubborn to admit it.

Graham looks down, and Emma feels guilty all over again.

"Never thought I'd see the day that Emma Swan fell," he says quietly.

"Neither did I," she snorts dryly. She opens her mouth, starts to speak, and closes it. "Graham, I… I cared about you. You meant something to me. And your death, it tore me to pieces. I cried myself to sleep for about a week afterwards. I couldn't eat a bearclaw for two months. Even now, my first thought when I think of bearclaws is you. Your jacket is hanging in the station in Storybrooke ‒right where you always hung it‒ and I tied one of your boot laces around my wrist," she shrugs, "something to remember you by, I guess. Sometimes, when I felt insecure, I'd look at it, and remember how much you believed in me, how much you trusted me. When I became the Dark One, I had to take it off. I wasn't doing evil things ‒okay maybe a few 'the end justifies the means'‒ I didn't want to hurt anyone. But I had to make them all believe I'd given into the darkness and I couldn't very well do that if I was being sentimental. I have no idea where it is now, I think it ended up somewhere in my house."

"I'm touched," he says through bright eyes. She shrugs, bites her quivering bottom lip and wipes at her eyes.

"What's your unfinished business?" She asks to change the topic, suddenly feeling too vulnerable.

"You," he says without hesitation. "I need to tell you two things: one, I would have chosen you. I would've always chosen you."

The waterworks start back up again and she offers him what she hopes is a reassuring smile.

She knows he would have. Him and Killian aren't that different (and _oh god_ Emma Swan does not have a type).

"Two?" She asks quietly.

"Regina killed me."

She's speechless again, needs a moment to process.

"Shit," is all she says. "Henry loved you. He talks about you sometimes."

She rolls her eyes because _of course_ Regina killed somebody Henry loves ‒why couldn't it have been Cruella or someone who's murderous tendencies don't complicate her parenting choices.

"I know it's a lot to take in," he says, "and I'm sorry to put it on you."

"No, no, it's… I'm glad I know. I'm sorry I didn't believe you about the whole fairytale thing, maybe I could've saved you‒"

"Emma," he rushes forward and kneels in front of her. "There was nothing you could've done. That last half hour of my life, it was spent with you, and I'd never been happier."

A touched smile spreads across her face as a bright light appears in the horizon.

"Hades is gonna kill me…" she sighs, but the determination he's always admired her for his in her eyes.

"No he won't. You're about to have a guardian angel looking after you," he says, reaching out and squeezing her hand. "Thank you, Emma."

She embraces him, and decides maybe she really _is_ a tearful goodbye person (with or without a kiss).

"Be happy," she whispers around a sob that's trying to tear free from her throat.

She's never been very good with goodbyes, which is why she's always tried to avoid them by leaving letters or simply leaving.

"You too," he says, grasping her hand one more time before walking off into the light. She feels a sensation on her wrist and looks down, smiling to herself. The bootlace is back.

She lets the tear fall freely now, the finality of their goodbye hitting her. She lets herself wallow for a few minutes, grieve for her friend, before pulling herself back together.

Hades isn't going to be any happier, certainly not after losing another of his citizens, and she's not about to have to say goodbye to another loved one because of self pity.

She feels her strength return and fire reignite. Love is strength, and she's damn well going to use it to save Killian. While walking back to Granny's she formulates her plan:

Step one: get Zelena to give into her feelings for Hades (she ignores how ridiculous that sounds ‒the Wicked Witch of the West being the God of the Underworld's true love‒ also ponders whether or not Regina is the Wicked Witch of the East or if there's a third sister no one knows about).

Step two: get Zelena to make a deal with Hades ‒she'll trust him (because _somebody_ needs to tell the redhead that love is strength) and in return, he'll let them all return to Storybrooke.

Step three: get back in once piece.

Step four: _finally_ test out her and Killian's bed _together_.

She actually stops short at the last thought, deciding to leave that part out when presenting her plan to the others.

 _But yeah_ , Emma thinks, _I'm not usually the planner, but I think that's a damn good plan._


End file.
